Oil companies to fast track fool-proofing of gas delivery system

Mumbai: Oil marketing companies have decided to bring in technological interventions with a view to remove bottlenecks in distribution system and aim to make the system fool-proof by the end of this fiscal against the backdrop of capping in the number of subsidised cylinders.

The three OMCs, which distribute gas to over 14 crore registered customers across the nation, are currently piloting three different interventions based on bar-coding, an RFID card and a GPRS device which will be implemented by next March, BPCL executive director George Paul told said.

"Suddenly, this cylinder capping issue has come, otherwise pilots were going on in step by step method. Now, there is an urgency to bring it faster," said Paul, who handles liquefied petroleum gas vertical for Bharat Petroleum Corporation.

Under the present practice, which operates largely manually, a customer is required to have a domestic gas consumer card (DGCC) which keeps the record of the number of gas cylinders purchased.

He further said some system should be in place by March, which will take care of the present set of troubles being faced by customers in wake of the government's September 14 decision to cap the subsidised cooking cylinders at 6 per year and the rest of cylinders at market rate, which is more than

double the first six cylinders. Paul also said a full-scale implementation across the nation will not be possible by March but a start would have been made by then.

Under the present practice, which operates largely manually, a customer is required to have a domestic gas consumer card (DGCC) which keeps the record of the number of gas cylinders purchased.

However, it has been found that a majority of customers misplace such cards due to the legacy of non-usage due to which they are forced to go to a nearby distributor, complete certain KYC (know your customer) requirements and get new cards, he said.